


Many Sweet Returns

by luxgloriana



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: 5 stages of grief? No 5 stages of coming to terms with your feelings for your bff, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Gloria has more emotions than she can handle, Love Confessions, Pokemon Sword & Shield Expansion Pass: The Isle of Armor, Pokemon Sword & Shield Expansion Pass: The Isle of Armor Spoilers, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26021020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxgloriana/pseuds/luxgloriana
Summary: She’d kept in touch with Hop, despite the distance, and despite the tension that existed between the two after she achieved his dream of becoming Champion.But there’s something different, when they’re finally reunited. Not a bad kind of different, but. Different.Or maybe it’s not different at all.***Or, Hop shows up on the Isle of Armor, and Gloria has too many feelings all at once.
Relationships: Hop/Yuuri | Gloria
Comments: 18
Kudos: 166





	1. Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> I got SwSh about 2 months ago, and while I’m a multi-shipper through and through, I wasn’t totally on board with Gloria/Hop. Then I started the Isle of Armor after finishing the main game, and the two of them are so adorable in their interactions that I physically and mentally could not stop myself from writing this. 
> 
> This was supposed to be a one-shot. I could have just kept it as a monster of a one-shot, but I decided to break it up a little. It’s complete, so one chapter will be posted a day, for five days. 
> 
> For the record, I HC Hop and Gloria as being around 15-16. I also HC that that is the usual age to compete in the gym challenge, and the only reason Leon competed as a 10-year-old was because he had the Chairman’s endorsement for being a total Pokemon prodigy.

There was a moment when Gloria couldn’t believe her eyes.

Of all the things Gloria expected to see in the Dojo when she walked through the front door — Avery criticizing a little kid’s taste in fashion, a Poliwrath trying to juggle dumbbells, Honey and Mustard flirting with each other — her best friend was nearly the last thing she expected to see.

He’d grown more than an inch in just the past two months, but it was him. He had a broad and joyful smile stretched across his lips, a smile Gloria thought she’d might never see with the same radiance again after his defeat in the Championships. He wore the shearling jacket his mother had bought for him just before he left on the Gym Challenge, and his trusty Dubwool was standing by his side.

It was Hop, and she was always happy to see Hop. But to see him there in the Dojo was nothing short of surprising. He hadn’t told her he was coming, and he knew very well that Gloria had scampered off to the Isle to train, so he must have meant to surprise her. But the sight of him wasn’t so surprising that it stopped Gloria from dropping her bag on the floor next to Urshifu, and running forward to throw her arms around him.

He really had grown taller — she was only tall enough to rest her chin on his shoulder if she stood on her toes. And had his shoulders grown more broad, or had she just forgotten what it felt like to hug him?

And did he smell different? He smelled… nice. Not that he smelled bad, before, even during their days camping in the Wild Area, far from the conveniences of indoor plumbing. But now he smelled really nice.

Gloria took a deep breath and squeezed him a little tighter, and even though she really didn’t know anything about scents or perfume or cologne, it smelled kind of warm, like some kind of spice she couldn’t place, or —

_Oh no._

Immediately, Gloria was swept with the feeling of wanting to bury her face in the soft shearling of Hop’s coat and never let go. To hold him close until it was time to leave the Isle, and to keep him from going home to Postwick without her whenever she inevitably had to return to Wyndon.

_Oh no._

With all of her innate strength and determination, Gloria forced herself to pull away, to let go as if it were just a normal hug and not a life-changing revelation disguised as a greeting for an old and dear friend.

_Why? Why now?_

“Hop!” Gloria said, drawing upon all of her history in the school drama club and all of her lessons on how to perform for a crowd as Champion. “You’re here!”

_Why? Why was he here?_

His face was all smile and sparkling eyes that fascinated Gloria, even though this was far from the first time she’d ever seen his face lit up with happiness like that. It was an old and familiar expression, one that looked right at home on his face. 

_This was... concerning,_ Gloria had to admit to herself. She thought this would never happen, but here it was. Happening. 

She forced herself to take a step back, away from whatever magnetized force was pulling her towards Hop, to give herself room to breathe. And then she tried to divide her attention between Hop and Mustard as they talked.

Hop explained that Sonia sent him to the Isle to do some more research on Dynamaxing. He was here to see whatever the Isle had to offer, and in turn, offered to lend Mustard a hand while he was on the island. Almost immediately, like it had been decided upon before Gloria’s return to the Dojo, Mustard gave them both a mission to find something sweet for Urshifu’s soup. The bear wouldn’t eat the Max Mushrooms without it.

Gloria really wasn’t paying attention, although her carefully timed nods of her head and interested _hmms_ and _ohs_ would suggest otherwise. She was spending all of her effort on making sure that she wasn’t blankly staring into Hop’s eyes, and on making sure that all of the internal screaming that was going on inside of her head stayed _internal_. The last thing she needed was for her shrieks of frustration to be heard by another person.

They didn’t need to know that it had finally happened.

_Oh, her mum was going to be insufferable about this, wasn’t she?_

She’d been convinced that Gloria was halfway to being in love with Hop since the day the two met as kids and spent their whole afternoon rolling down the hills of Postwick together with the flocks of Wooloo. And her mum wasn’t the only one. Hop’s mum was much the same way, always ready with a wink or a smug little smile whenever the two of them were together. Even Sonia had been less than subtle with her hints, and Leon wasn’t above teasing his little brother or his new Champion about whatever he thought existed between them.

Of course, Gloria knew that it was all rubbish. They were just making assumptions based on the old idea that a teenage boy and a teenage girl could never just be friends unless one or both of them were gay or ace or something. But of course, they could just be friends — she and Hop were evidence of that! She liked Hop, she even loved Hop, but only as a best friend. She’d never had a non-platonic feeling for Hop in her entire life—

_Until two minutes ago._

Wanting to hold onto someone and never let go sure didn’t sound very platonic to her, at least in this case. It was exactly the sort of thing Gloria liked to scoff at whenever she stayed home sick from school and watched the horribly melodramatic soap operas that were on the TV in the afternoon. It was rubbish — people who were in love didn’t actually feel that way. Except, at that very moment, she did.

Wanting to smell someone, well, that could be a platonic or familial kind of thing, she supposed. But the feeling that gathered low in Gloria’s stomach after smelling Hop was certainly not platonic in any way. _That_ feeling was the very opposite of platonic.

And yes, of course, she liked Hop, as a friend. She knew and recognized and admired all of the best things about him, as a friend. His humor, his constant enthusiasm, his kindness, his wit. But knowing him so well, as a friend, and admiring him, as a friend... it would be easy for some little switch to flip in Gloria’s mind or heart, and all of the sudden, boom. Less-than-platonic admiration. 

Gloria’s mum was going to be unbearable about this. After all of that time that Gloria had spent trying to convince her that she was just friends with Hop and her own feelings for Hop would never change, the teasing would never end. The moment her mum found out, it would be all _Hop this_ and _Hop that_ , and and _“I always knew there was something between you two…”_ and _“Oh, aren’t you two just meant to be!”_

It almost made Gloria want to fake her death and run off to Unova. And okay, sure, that would be an unnecessarily dramatic reaction. But, _ugh_. Admitting to your mother that she was right was the worst.

Because she liked Hop. She has feelings for Hop. All of the classic symptoms were there. The Butterfrees in her stomach, the way she couldn’t tear her gaze away from his golden eyes and his warm smile and his perfect skin and perfect nose and perfect jaw, how she wanted everyone else to fade away so she could be with Hop and just Hop. If the fact that she felt like she’d just been hit with a Hydro Pump attack of thoughts about Hop was any kind of indication, Gloria had it bad.

There was, for a moment, a thought in Gloria’s mind that she could just ignore her feelings, forget that she ever realized they were there, and carry on life as normal. But as Gloria took Hop on a brief tour of the Dojo, the desire to touch Hop, to hold his hand, or grab his arm, or lean her head against his shoulder, to make him smile and laugh and see the way his golden eyes lit up and crinkled around the edges, Gloria couldn’t shake those thoughts no matter how hard she tried.

The only small mercy the universe felt she deserved, apparently, was that Hop didn't notice how spacey and distracted she was during their tour of the Dojo. If he’d noticed and asked why she was acting so strangely, what could she have possibly told him? 

By the time she and Hop left the Dojo to start out on their mission for Mustard, Gloria’s mind was going a mile a minute, darting from one sickly sweet imagined romantic scenario to another, like a wild Rotom in the tall grass. Fancy dates in Wyndon, quiet moments hidden away in Postwick, camping in the Wild Area just for a chance to be alone…

Gloria had it really bad.

Hop, with a taunt and a laugh, took off running through the Soothing Wetlands, towards the Forest of Focus. Gloria was content to go at her own pace, and make him wait for her at the bridge to the forest — having a few minutes alone to think was just what she needed. And the last time she’d been in a hurry to make it through the Wetlands, she’d crashed into a pond to avoid running over a Quagsire’s tail and she still hadn’t gotten the mud stains out of her yellow uniform.

Whatever it was they needed to get for Urshifu— who was obediently following behind her, how she wished she could let all of her Pokémon follow her all of the time — was probably going to take a while to get. Going anywhere or doing anything on the Isle always took a while to accomplish. With the winding pathways, extreme landscape, and the wild pokemon around every corner, it wasn’t easy to go anywhere or do anything — which was probably why Leon suggested she come to train here since her team had gotten a little too powerful to train effectively in the wild on the mainland.

So Gloria knew what to expect — she and Hop would probably be spending the rest of the day together, wandering across the Isle.

That gave her plenty of time to be a scientist. It’s possible that the strange rush of feelings Gloria felt when she saw and hugged Hop earlier were a fluke, a strange reaction to seeing her very best friend after a long physical separation. That she didn’t really have romantic feelings for Hop, she was just… very emotional to finally be reunited with him.

It was also entirely possible that, without knowing it, she’d been in love with Hop the entire time. It was possible that her mother, and Hop’s mother, and Sonia and Leon — even Marnie and Bede had said a few suggestive things — weren’t just making wild assumptions about her and Hop. Maybe they had seen something that Gloria never knew was there.

Gloria hated feeling like she was the last person to know something.

… or was Hop the last person to know? Gloria didn’t want to think about what that would mean.

And there she was, right back where she started. Not literally, of course — Gloria was still ambling along, walking through the Soothing Wetlands at a steady pace, carefully avoiding all of the ponds and puddles and rocks and Poliwhirls in her way.

But, she was right back where she started in terms of Hop. Sure, she had a little bit better of an idea of how she felt, but she didn’t have any understanding of how Hop felt. All she could do, she supposed, was pay attention to Hop, and see if anything was different about him.

_Other than the extra height, and other than the new cologne._

She could remember how he smelled almost perfectly. Warm, maybe like spices, and something familiar she couldn’t place.

Oh, she had it so, so bad.

With a heavy sigh, Gloria turned around to make sure Urshifu was still following her — _of course he was, he was such a good, cute little bear Pokémon — well, he’s not so little anymore_. Seeing her new companion still following faithfully behind her, she started walking a little faster, seeing the edge of the forest just ahead of her.


	2. Curiosity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gloria and Hop head into the Forest of Focus to find a Lilligant. They find one, but not a lot of progress is made when it comes to finding something sweet for Urshifu, and even less progress is made in terms of Gloria figuring out her feelings for Hop.

Hop only teased her a little bit for being slow whenever she finally caught up to him. Gloria never really rose to Hop’s bait when it came to his ever-present need to race against her, but she felt especially smug when Hop admitted he and Dubwool had run into more than a few Woopers in his haste to make it to the Forest. 

With an exaggerated roll of her eyes that Gloria knew Hop would see as a sign of affection, Gloria muttered, “come on,” and led the way into the shaded Forest. The two of them didn’t walk far. They came to a stop about 30 feet away from the mouth of the Forest, right beside the first bridge over the river, and took in their chaotic surroundings. 

“So…” Hop said, his voice trailing off as he took a look around. “You’re the one who’s been living here for a few weeks. Where should we start looking for Lilligants?” 

“This whole island is crawling with Pokémon. They could be anywhere. They come out more when it’s sunny, but…” Gloria shrugged, half-hearted. As someone who considered herself quite a strategic thinker, she didn’t think that there was any better plan than to start looking around and hope they found one.

Thankfully, right there at the edge of the forest, a little spot of green — a different shade of green as everything else in the forest — caught Gloria’s eye. Silently creeping forward, she tried to get a better look at what was moving around in the grass just beyond the span of the bridge. Gloria didn’t see Hop follow behind her, but she could feel him walking a step or two behind her, looking over her shoulder. 

It wasn’t a Pokémon she’d ever seen in person before, but she knew what it was. 

“A Petilil!” Hop said, straining to keep his voice at a whisper. “Do you think it’s lost?”

Much like Budew, Petilils were rarely seen by people unless they were bred and hatched from eggs in captivity. Out in the wild, Lilligants kept a careful eye on their little ones, and kept them safe and out of sight of other Pokémon and people. They were delicate little Pokémon, even compared to other flowery Grass types — it was best for them to live peacefully until they could get stronger and evolve. A Petilil on its own, out in the open, most likely meant it had been separated from its parents, and had gone out to search for them. 

Hopefully, it was just the temporary kind of separation. 

The Petilil turned its little body, and noticed the two of them immediately. Gloria expected the little bud to turn and run for safety, but instead, it waddled directly towards her and Hop. The two of them drew back, mostly in shock. Even in such tiny little legs, it was fast, and the two of them stood rooted to the spot as it jumped forward and wrapped its little leaves around one of Hop’s legs. 

“You must really be lost if you think I’m your mother.” He joked, looking down at the scared little Pokémon with wary eyes. He shot a quick look towards Gloria, paired with a bemused smile, and said slowly, “I don’t think I can move.” 

“No.” Gloria agreed. The Petilil was holding tight, and Gloria couldn’t bear to suggest that they leave it alone while they made off to look for a Lilligant. Whatever had happened, the Petilil was nervous — and Hop had already taken a shine to it. He was making soothing _shh_ noises low under his breath, and smiling down at the nervous little thing to try and earn the Petilil’s trust. 

_Adorable_. 

She didn’t really want to interrupt, but Gloria had to. Hop was standing right beside her, and was acting so much like his usual self — kind and loving and compassionate — that Gloria was filled with a very dangerous urge to grab Hop by the hand and lay her head against his shoulder as he quietly calmed the distressed Petilil. She could not let that happen, so she cleared her throat and stood up straight, and ignored the warm ball of feelings smoldering away in her chest. 

“Well, one of its parents has to be around here somewhere.” She decided, rather than say the _hopefully alive_ part out loud, to give Hop a twisted, strained look instead. He nodded, frowning a little at the grim possibilities, and looked back down at the little Petilil gripping tightly to his leg with a grimace. “I’ll go look for the most anxious Lilligant in the Forest. You’ll be alright here on your own?” 

“Dubwool and I can handle just about everything, but I have Corviknight’s ball with me, just in case.” He said, lowering his voice as he crouched down to put one comforting hand on the top of Petilil’s head. 

“Okay,” Gloria said, adjusting the straps of her backpack, and taking one cautious step backwards. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, alright?” 

And Hop was helpless to do anything other than nod, and pat the little Petilil on the head once more. 

With another deep breath, Gloria turned around and walked deeper into the Forest. 

Gloria had been on the Isle for nearly two weeks, and still, she didn’t know her way around the Forest of Focus. Everything looked the same, and all of the paths were overgrown with weeds and the overhanging branches of the nearby trees. If possible, she tried to go around the Forest, rather than through. She couldn’t make it from one side to another without doubling back, running in circles, accidentally ending up right where she started, etc. If she went into the Forest and ended up where she intended to go, it was almost entirely on accident. 

The Forest made her feel like Leon, which she didn’t appreciate. And, frankly, there were only so many times she could trip over a Tangela in a day before she just got angry at herself for agreeing to come to the Isle in the first place.

But Hop was the one who was currently being attacked by a poor, lost Petilil. The little bud of a Pokémon probably picked the right choice of person to hang onto for sympathy’s sake. Hop was much kinder and more patient, and for as little Gloria knew about the forest, Hop knew even less. 

It took well over an hour, and many attacks against the Tangelas hiding in the weeds for Gloria to find the worried female Lilligant at the opposite corner of the Forest. By the time she found the anxious mother, Gloria was grumpy and frustrated, and less than thrilled at the prospect of having to trek through the Forest once again. But the obvious worry that surrounded the poor mother Pokémon curbed some of her grief. If all Gloria could say for herself was that she reunited a lost mother and child Pokémon, then she’d done something good with her afternoon, hadn’t she? That was what being Champion was about, taking care of the region’s Pokémon and trainers. 

Thankfully, the return trip took much less time than the search. The path was mostly cleared, and even though the Lilligant took little, dainty steps, she was eager to follow Gloria. Lilligant might not have trusted Gloria enough to be carried — Gloria had offered, and totally understood when the Lilligant didn’t seem interested — but she trusted her enough to follow. And Urshifu was very helpful in making sure the Lilligant didn’t get lost or stuck along the way. 

In no time, the Champion and the two Pokémon following her were on the other side of the bridge where Hop and the Petilil were waiting. Gloria was more than ready to be reunited with her best friend — because that’s what he was, if he was nothing else — and was relieved to know the mother and child would be reunited in just a moment. One more task was nearly completed for the day. 

She waited with one foot on the first step up to the bridge, giving Lilligant some time to catch up to her before moving too much further forward. Standing there, already tired and knowing that she still had more she needed to accomplish that day — and knowing that, _oh, did she still have some thinking to do about whatever chemical reaction was occurring in her brain because of Hop_ — Gloria almost missed the figure in question speaking. 

Hop, who still had the Petilil’s tiny little leaves wrapped around his leg, had his back turned to her and to the bridge. He was speaking in a low and gentle voice. 

“So with just one Ultra Ball, she caught Eternatus, and stopped the Darkest Day. The second Darkest Day, I mean. The two of us, Zacian, and Zamazenta. I’m still not sure what Zacian and Zamazenta did — well, I reckon I know _what_ they did to help stop it, but I don’t know _how_ it worked — that’s one of the things I’d like to find out someday, once I become a Professor. 

“But it was Glor who that managed to capture that thing and put amend to all of the spontaneous Dynamaxing Pokémon. She saved us all that day.” There’s a pause, and Gloria nearly takes that as a sign that she could walk forward and interrupt without making things weird. _Even though it was precious, that he was telling stories to distract the Petilil—_

She was very glad she stayed put, because Hop wasn’t done talking. 

“And then she went on to be the first person to ever beat my brother in a Pokémon battle, and now, she’s our Champion. Don’t tell Lee, but I think she might be my favorite Champion.”

The Lilligant must have caught up to Gloria, because she stepped right around Gloria, brushing against her leg.

Gloria stayed exactly where she was. There was a lump in her throat, but it wasn’t because she was about to cry. No, she wanted to smile and laugh and run forward and capture Hop in the tightest, most desperate hug. But that still sounds like a very bad, embarrassing idea, so she did not move. 

“Actually, you know what, little buddy? Don’t tell Gloria she’s my favorite either. Just in case you’re one of those Pokémon that can talk, I should be the one to tell her that.” 

Gloria’s muscles had already frozen in place. Hearing his words, her mind shut down just as totally. 

_What did that mean?_

In the flash of a second, Gloria was overwhelmed with possible answers. _He’s in love with you_ , or _he’s had a falling out with Leon,_ or _he knows you’re listening and knows you’re confused and just wants to drive you crazy_. 

She wanted to be optimistic, to take Hop’s confession to the Petilil as a sign that he had feelings for her. At the same time, she didn’t want to make a total ass out of herself by making some grand assumption about the meaning of his words. For all she knew, he was just babbling away, saying absolute nonsense just to keep the Petilil calm and happy. But how could she possibly know, one way or the other, what Hop meant unless she asked him? And how could she ask him what he meant unless she knew what to ask of him in the first place? 

_Hey, Hop, so I’m your favorite, huh?_ How could he reply to that? 

_So I guess I’ve dethroned Leon once again?_ He’d have no idea what she was even talking about if she asked him that. He’d probably assume she’d gotten hit by some kind of Confusion attack by something lurking between the trees of the Forest. 

_So, Hop, I was eavesdropping on the story you told the Petilil..._ He would run away, blushing and stammering. 

Gloria really had no choice but to think about that later. Because the Lilligant spotted her young one just ahead of her, and with a delighted little cry, she crossed the bridge ahead of Gloria and Urshifu. 

It was heartwarming, to see the Petilil drop its hold on Hop and waddle forward to meet its mother in a delicate embrace. Hop’s brilliant smile was just as moving.

But all of the pleasant and warm feelings faded away quickly. Because, as they said their goodbyes to the reunited mother and child, they realized. 

_Of course, it wasn’t Lilligant nectar that they needed. It wasn’t that sweet, and who’s ever heard of a bear that loved nectar?_ This wasn’t what Mustard sent them after. 

There was much less admiration to be found in Gloria’s heart or eyes once Hop took off deepering into the Forest in search of the next Pokémon on their list that produced something sweet. He was much more enthusiastic than she was, for obvious reasons. 

They needed to find an Applin. 

_Just brilliant. At this rate, she’d never get to leave this Forest, would she?_


	3. Distraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gloria gets hit in the head with an Applin. It's hard to tell if the head trauma or Hop that leaves her so absent-minded and spacey.

As it turned out, neither Gloria nor Hop would be spending too much longer in the Forest of Focus that day. Which, in all honesty, was a total surprise to Gloria. 

See, Gloria didn’t have a great record when it came to finding Applin. When that kid in Hammerlock asked her for one, she didn’t have one waiting in a box for her. Assuming that he was going to trade her for some cool, unusual Pokémon— _which, he didn’t_ —Gloria spent nearly two whole days searching for one out in the tall grass on Route 5. But that guy ended up giving the Applin back to her, and now, she only had an Appletun listed in her PokeDex, because she hadn’t found a single Applin since then to evolve into a Flapple.

Typical, then, that she’d see one right out in the open in the forest, and that it would lead her on a wild chase through the weeds and the trees, past the endless number of wild Tangela and Pikachu waiting around every corner. It disappeared up into a berry tree, right where it could disguise itself. But Gloria was certain, oh, she was so certain it was up there in the tree, waiting for her snatch it. 

Even more typical, then, that when she finally caught up to the Applin, it fell right out of the tree and hit her on the head. 

Gloria had more than a few Skwovets and Cherubi fall on her head that way with no lasting damage, but the Applin? The Applin _hurt._ It was dense, dead weight that fell right onto the crown of her head, and the impact forced her teeth to clatter together and forced her to bite down on the tip of her tongue. She flinched, shutting her eyes the moment the Applin hit, and a second or two after, she felt the stinging feeling of tears forming. Gloria kept her eyes screwed shut until the wave of pain passed, and when she finally opened her eyes— 

The Applin was nowhere to be found. 

Gloria groaned and was more than ready to let lose an artful arrangement of every swear word her mother had ever yelled at her for using. But she stopped when she realized that, in place of the Applin, Hop was standing right next to her, one hand scratching the back of his head. She didn’t realize he’d caught up to her. She didn’t know how he could have come to stand right next to her, without her knowing. She had been hyper-aware of where Hop was and what he was doing from the second she saw him in the Dojo.

That must have been some knock on the head. 

“Hey, are you alright?” He asked, putting one broad, warm hand on her shoulder. He was standing close to her — very close to her, close enough she could smell the whatever it was that made him smell so nice — and was looking at her with worry obvious in his wide eyes. 

“Fine. That hurt more than I ever imagined it would, but it’s fine.”

Slowly, he leaned in, his eyes very deliberately looking at the top of her head. Gloria wanted to make some kind of joke about Hop’s newfound height and the view he had from up there, but no jokes came to mind. And there was Hop, leaning in closer and closer, and, what was he going to do? Was he about to kiss her and make her head wound better? Was he about to kiss her, his _favorite_? 

He didn’t. Rather, as something warm brushed across her forehead, right under her hairline, she realized that Hop just licked her. 

He licked her head. 

He licked her forehead, and then pulled back, his face confused, which was surprising to Gloria, because he wasn’t the one who just had someone else _lick. Their. Forehead._

“That’s just Applin juice.” He said, and he genuinely looked a little surprised. Of course, it was just juice, what else would it be? It wasn’t what they were looking for. Juice could be sticky, and it could be sweet, but it wasn’t — 

_Of course._

“Honey.” Gloria said, staring blankly ahead, her gaze going through and past Hop — her vision was still swimming, just a little bit. Of course they needed to find _honey_. It was Mustard’s wife’s name, and he couldn’t remember that it was honey they needed for this very particular recipe for this very special Pokémon? _This whole thing must be another one of his jokes. And it wasn’t a very good one._

“Yes, dear?” Hop answered, having the absolute audacity to wink at her as he said it.

_No._

_How dare he? Didn’t he know what kind of emotional turmoil she was experiencing? The sudden and strong and surprising feelings she’d had for him?_

Of course he didn’t know. 

_He was joking he was joking he was joking_ Gloria thought. That was just a tired old joke that people made another person offered something to sweeten their tea or porridge with. It was the kind of joke Hop’s grandfather always made.

He definitely was joking. But that didn’t stop a part of Gloria’s mind from making that little chiming noise her PokeDex made when she added a new entry, and thinking: _new memory! The sound of Hop calling you a sweet pet name!_

“We need honey.” Gloria said, with no small amount of hope that they could immediately get back to work and she didn’t have to think about the fact that _Hop called her ‘dear’_ and _Hop licked her forehead._ She’d never really thought about pet names, they always seemed a little _too much_ for her, but Gloria didn’t mind the idea of Hop calling her _dear_. Or _darling_. Or _his favorite_ — did that count as a pet name? Or — 

_Wait a minute, Hop licked her forehead_? 

“Of course! I don’t know why we needed so much time to put it together.” Hop said, shaking his head from side to side. “We must have really been overthinking things. Bears love honey, don’t they?” 

Hop turned over his shoulder to look back at Urshifu, who definitely looked more interested in the idea of honey than he had in eating Lilligant nectar or Applin juice. The bear began nodding, and Hop grabbed Gloria by the arm to guide her away from the tree and back onto the overgrown path through the forest. 

“You just licked my forehead.” Gloria stated, feeling like her feet weren’t quite touching the ground as he pulled her along. Was that because of his hand on her arm, or because of the thump on the head? 

“What? That seemed like the easiest way to test it.” There was an infuriating look of smugness in Hop’s eyes that nearly killed whatever cute feelings for him were dancing away in Gloria’s chest. Or they almost did, until she saw that damn smile of his... _No. Stop it. Be angry with him._

“You _licked_ my forehead.”

Why didn’t he understand how completely bonkers that was? Who licks someone else’s forehead in any circumstances? 

Hop dropped his hold on her arm and jogged a few steps ahead, likely out of his own sense of self-preservation. Gloria’s other hand had gravitated to Cinderace’s Pokeball, and her eyes had narrowed. 

“And it was an important part of figuring out what we were doing wrong! It was a scientific lick!”

The way Gloria’s stomach twisted into tight knots at the very sight of Hop’s silly, smug smile, or the way his golden eyes sparkled made it very clear that her feelings were growing less and less platonic by the minute. Even the growing irritation that she felt because he just _licked her forehead_ , or the slowly building confusion she’d been feeling all day, wasn’t enough of a distraction from the Butterfrees in her stomach that fluttered their wings every time he smiled, or from the giddiness and lightheadedness that she felt because his very presence made her heartbeat erratically. 

No.

It was official.

The warm and fuzzy feelings she had for Hop were distracting her from everything else. 

(Was she so distracted because now she knew how soft and warm Hop’s tongue was? Because. _Yikes_. Gloria would definitely have to use some of the meditation exercises to have the presence of mind to think about that without... spontaneously exploding.) 

She had it so, so bad for him. And it didn’t matter if her feelings had been there the whole time, or if they’d just cropped up the moment she saw him waiting for her in the Dojo a few hours earlier in the day. 

It didn’t matter how long those feelings had been there, because they were there, and they were unavoidable and inescapable. They were... Dynamaxed feelings. Her feelings for Hop were big and glowing and were staring down at her from high up above, expectantly, waiting for her to try and conquer them.

But... what? There were lots of things she _could_ do to address the Cufant in the room, but what was the _right thing_ to do?

_Should she be honest and confess, even if she wasn’t confident that Hop reciprocated her feelings?_

_Was faking her death and running away to Unova off of the table?_

_How was she supposed to know what to do?_

She’d done a lot of thinking all at once. 

And she must not have done a great job of hiding her distress, because Hop slowed his steps and turned to look at her, his brows furrowed.

“Uh, Glor? Are you feeling okay?” 

“Fine,” she answered immediately.

She was not fine. But she was not ‘ _not fine_ ’ for the reason Hop suspected. 

(Her head did still hurt a little...)

Hop’s eyes softened and he blinked the confusion from his eyes, his long eyelashes fluttering against the apples of his cheeks — _ah, just like an Applin_. With a quick glance at his watch, he said, “I reckon that Applin hurt, didn’t it? Why don’t we just go back to the Dojo, and tell Master Mustard we’ll get the honey tomorrow? We can tell him you got attacked by the Applin, and need some rest. Head injuries are serious, after all, he’ll understand.” 

“We don’t — ” Gloria began to protest, but a sinking feeling in her chest told her that Hop was right. It was nearing dusk, and the thought of biking halfway across the Isle and out to Honey Calm Island in search of honey was exhausting on its own. And what use was there in going all that way to try and find a Vespiquen’s nest once the Vespiquen and her Combees had already turned in for the night?

Sure, maybe Avery would see them return without the thing Mustard tasked them to retrieve and he would give Gloria a hard time, but so what? Since when did Avery’s opinion matter?

And having one minute — or, maybe ten minutes — where Gloria could just sit and think and sort through her thoughts and feelings about Hop, without Hop interrupting by doing something endearing or infuriating to give her just another reason to be distracted, that would be perfect. Just what the doctor ordered. 

“Okay,” she agreed. 

Hop walked much slower on their return to the Dojo than on their trip into the Forest. Through the rest of the Forest and through the Wetlands, he never left Gloria’s side as they walked back to the Dojo in perfect silence, Urshifu always following two steps behind them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... my many apologize for all of the italics. In my defense, it seems to fit Gloria's voice.
> 
> Fun fact, the next chapter, chapter 4, was the original beginning of this fic when it was just supposed to be just a one-shot.


	4. Determination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gloria needs some advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I just wanted to give a heads up that the next chapter might not be up for 48 hours-ish. Long story short, I have no electricity thanks to a freak storm that knocked down many trees in my neighborhood, and I can’t justify wasting my precious phone batter on edits on the last chapter. But this one is ready to go, so here it is!

Mustard almost looked apologetic when he found out Gloria had been hit in the head by a mischievous Applin, and was more than happy to let Hop and Gloria delay their search for honey until the following day. 

After a quick dinner on their own in the kitchen, Gloria showed Hop to the bunk room that she had previously had all to herself. He dropped his bag onto the ground beside the bed next to hers, and quickly made himself comfortable, slipping off his shoes and jacket and squishing the pillows on the bed into a better position. 

The two of them made plans to leave early in the morning to go get the honey they needed, and both agreed that they would turn in for bed relatively early. Still, they had a few hours before they would even think about trying to get some sleep, so while Hop started digging through his bag for something to do, Gloria wondered if it was a good time to make a phone call. 

The hours spent wandering around the Forest of Focus, searching for Lilligants and Applins, and trying to sort through a mess of feelings made it very clear to Gloria that she needed advice. And there was only one person she was used to getting advice from whose opinion she trusted on this particular matter.

_It was just past 8 in the evening, surely he’s free right now?_

“Do you want to play a game?” Hop asked, pulling Gloria from her thoughts. “I’ve got my PokeSwitch in here somewhere…” 

“In a few minutes,” Gloria said, grabbing her RotomPhone and passing it back and forth between her hands. “It’s been a few days since I’ve called the League to check in with anyone. I should do that before it gets too late. Otherwise, no one will be in the office, and what’s the point of calling then?”

Hop looked up, his golden eyes glinting in the light. 

“Oh, alright. Go ahead! I’ll be here.” 

And then, PokeSwitch in hand, he threw himself on his bed, leaning his back against the wall, and splayed his long legs out in front of him. As the game was loading, Hop’s eyes fell shut, and he started rolling his head from one side to another to stretch out his neck. It was a totally normal thing for a person to do after a long day of traveling and of running all around the Isle to get some honey to put in some soup, a normal way to stretch and relieve the day’s tension. It was absolutely not a deliberate move to get Gloria to fixate on his neck, to wonder how strong the scent of Hop’s new soap or cologne was there right under his ear, or to make her think about curling up against his side and letting her head rest right on his shoulder next to his neck— 

_Stop. Stop it right now._

Gloria listened to herself, and without another word, she walked right out of the Dojo’s front door. There was a bit of a chill in the air, so she pulled her sweater a little tighter, and walked to the top of the cliff just to the east of the Dojo.

She took a few moments to stare at the blank surface of her phone before pressing the screen or any of the keys, and she planned out what she needed to talk about. 

See, Gloria _didn’t_ need to check in with the League office — she did that every morning. She didn’t even _have_ to in the first place. Per her contract, she could schedule up to a month of time every year during the off-season for training purposes, where no one could complain about the Champion not being around to attend marketing or philanthropy outreach meetings or promotional photoshoots back in Wyndon. But she liked to know what was going on when she was away from Wyndon anyway. Rose’s attempt to start the second Darkest Day, quickly followed by the mess with the two royals with the weird hair had made her anxious. While she never went anywhere without Eternatus now, Gloria liked knowing that Pokemon weren’t randomly Dynamaxing across the region. 

She had lied to Hop about needing to check in with the League, but she was calling a member of the League. So, it wasn’t a total lie. 

“Call Leon,” she finally told her phone, and she sat on the ground and settled against the trunk of the tree as the phone rang three times before he answered the call. 

“Hello, Ms. Champion.” 

She only just resisted the urge to hang up immediately as a way of avoiding this conversation. But that was the cowardly thing to do, and Gloria was not meant to be a coward. 

So she asked Leon, “hey. Do you have a few minutes?” knowing full well that her attempt to keep her voice cool and casual was a failure. 

“Only a few, but I can always find time for you. What’s up?” 

_What_ _wasn’t_ _up?_

“So your brother showed up at the Dojo out of the blue this morning.” That was a good enough place to start as any. 

“Yeah! He told me Sonia was sending him there for some research. He messaged me this morning when he was on the train. Did he make it okay?”

“Yeah,” Gloria said, remembering the way she greeted him earlier that day. That hug, the smell... “He’s here, and he made it in one piece.” 

“Great. Does Mustard have the two of you running all over the Isle to do things for him?” 

“Like you wouldn't believe, Lee.” 

In as few words as she could, Gloria tried to summarize the day’s events. Kubfu’s evolution, Hop’s arrival, their encounter with Petilil and Lilligant, being attacked by an Applin. Leon was usually a great listener, but Gloria could tell, as she talked, Leon was waiting for her to get to the point. And that worried her, that he might have some psychic understanding about why she needed to call him in the first place. 

_She really was the last one to know about her own feelings._

So before they could get any more embroiled in small talk, she asked, “I need to know. Do you have any suggestions on how I’m supposed to tell your brother about the very strong feelings I have for him?” 

There. She said it. 

“Well,” Leon said, and Gloria was certain that he was smiling, grinning ear to ear, somewhere back in Wyndon. “He’s my brother, so he’s oblivious when it comes to these kinds of things. So if there’s anyone you should kiss first and explain your feelings to later, I think Hop’s the one.” 

“... really?” 

Gloria had been expecting better advice than that. Leon usually gave very good pep talks. 

“I’m not going to give you any gory ideas, Glor. And I don’t want to hear any gross details about the two of you in the future, either. If you don’t want to just kiss him and get it over with, then you’re going to have to do something that’s just as obvious, something that's impossible for him to misinterpret. You can’t just walk up to him and say, ‘hey Hop, I like you!’ and walk away, because he will definitely assume that you mean you like him as a friend. Show him to a more romantic part of the island, and when you’re alone, tell him that you have feelings for him, and then ask him on a date. Use specific words! Don’t let there be any room for misunderstanding. If you tell Hop that you like him and want to get dinner with him, he’s going to assume that you just want to hang out as friends. If you ask him on a date, even Hop will struggle to write that off as a friendly gesture. 

“And get it over with soon! He’s not going to reject you.”

That was a little more helpful. Leon’s words calmed Gloria’s mind, but they didn’t do much of anything for her racing heart or sweaty palms.

“You sound much more confident about that than I am.” 

“Because you don’t get to see how differently the two of you treat each other compared to your other friends, or how often you blush and laugh around each other. And you're not the one who's had to listen to two lovesick teenagers who live and work at opposite ends of the country complain about how much they miss the other one over the past few months.” 

It took Gloria two seconds longer than she would like to admit to realize who Leon was talking about. Because she certainly hadn’t been lovesick over Hop since their separation began. She missed him, which was different from being lovesick. Or maybe she had been lovesick without realizing it, because she couldn't be trusted to understand her own feelings, apparently. 

But was Hop feeling lovesick over her? Was he really? She expected him to miss her, and he had said as much to her over the phone, but _how much_ did he miss her? 

Ugh.

This was exhausting. 

Leon's advice was good, and his... assessment of the situation was probably spot-on. But Gloria had no idea how much emotional energy it would take to actually accept what he had to say.

“Is this what having a big brother is like?” She asked, staring out at the sea, her face grim. “Because this makes me glad I’m an only child.” 

Leon laughed, loudly. Gloria could imagine him leaning back and laughing with his whole body, wherever he was back in Wyndon and whatever he was doing. 

“Ah, no. Trust me, Glor,” Leon said, his voice still saturated with mirth. Despite herself, Gloria couldn’t stop from smiling — Leon’s laughter and smile were infectious. Just like Hop's. “I’ve been giving Hop a much harder time." There's just a slight pause, before Leon says, "Actually, you know what? I’m rooting for you to make the first move, Champ. Think about it! We’ll both be able to tease Hop about it for the rest of our lives.” 

“Sure.”

He makes it sound so easy. 

There’s a little bit of static noise through the phone, and Gloria’s pretty sure it’s from Leon sighing heavily into his RotomPhone. 

“Look. If you’re nervous, Glor, just remember, my little brother is not even a quarter as terrifying as Eternatus. And if being his friend makes you happy, think about how happy you’ll be when the two of you aren’t just friends.” 

_That_ actually helped. Obviously, Gloria knew she was capable of putting the words in the right order and speaking them out loud in order to tell Hop that she had feelings for him. But following through with it was something else. Hop wasn’t her first crush, and he wouldn’t be her first kiss or first date, but she didn’t have a ton of experience with this kind of thing. And Hop was different from anyone else who’d ever caught her eye. He was her best friend. 

And if the constant emotional turmoil she'd felt throughout the day was any clue, her feelings for him were much stronger than she'd felt for anyone else. Ever. 

“Thanks, Lee." Gloria said with a heavy sigh. "I’m sorry I kept you so long, I know you said you only had a few free minutes.”

“And I meant it when I said I can always make time for you. But if you’re feeling better, I really should go.”

“What? Is your own date waiting for you?” She asked, expecting Leon just to laugh along.

But instead, he said, voice confident, “actually, yes. I do have a date waiting for me.” 

And Gloria couldn’t resist the chance to turn his treatment back around on Leon. “Really? Could I guess who it is?” She asked, too eager to pass up the chance to tease him in turn. It's what he deserved. And she always suspected he had feelings for — 

“Probably, but I’m not going to give you the chance to try. Goodbye, Ms. Champ. Go tell my brother you love him!” 

Before Gloria had the chance to call Leon by any unflattering names, she heard the little beeping noise that meant Leon had hung up on her. She was more than a little disappointed that she didn’t have the time to try and Furret out the identity of Leon’s date. He was right, she could make an educated guess, but there were a few possible suspects, and they were each as likely as the last. 

Not that she should be thinking about Leon’s love life right now. For the sake of her mental and emotional peace, she needed to put her own front and center. 

***

Back in Wyndon, in a sleek and shining modern apartment building just across from the Battle Tower, Leon set his RotomPhone down on the bathroom counter and smiled to himself in the mirror. 

_Finally_. _Oh, he would definitely have to call mum about this. She’d have to act surprised whenever Hop and Gloria got around to telling her, but she’d never forgive him if he —_

“Lee?” Called a familiar voice from somewhere down the hall. “Are you ready?” 

“Just a moment,” Leon answered. “I needed to play matchmaker for Hop and the Champ.” 

“Alright… wait, _what_?” 

Leon just smiled to himself in the mirror, and smoothed down his hair one last time. 

“I’ll tell you about it in the cab.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said, I’m a multishipper through and through, so take your pick for who Leon’s mystery date maybe and I support it. Raihan? Sure. Piers? Why not. Sonia? Yeah. Nessa? Go ahead. Milo? A seriously under-appreciated rare pair. Opal? Not my first choice, but I’m not going to stop you. A clone of himself? Sure, this is a pro-clone fucking space I have created.
> 
> ( ~~I mostly added that bit about Leon having a date too because I needed a way to end that scene, and because I really like the idea of Leon & Gloria being friends who talk about these kinds of things.~~)


	5. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gloria drags Hop out to the island to see that stars in order to confess her recently realized feelings for him. He reacts the way that everyone other than Gloria herself would expect him to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this one was a little later than I expected! Turns out, power surges during a thunderstorm can fry the electrical wiring in your house, so electricity has been a precious commodity for the past few days. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you appreciate this chapter! It's nearly as long as the rest of the fic combined, and it's fluffy and indulgent as hell. Also, this chapter is the reason I rated the fic T for Teen, because sex is abstractly mentioned once, and also because I let Gloria think the fuck word. Lika a PG-13 movie, T rated fics are allowed to say "fuck" once. (That is not true.)

Five more minutes. 

That’s the amount of time Gloria assumed that she had before Hop would start worrying about her absence, and would come out to find her. 

The first thing she had to decide — should she tell Hop now? The thought almost made her dizzy. But the thought of waiting all day tomorrow for the perfect moment sounded like a great way for her to wimp out on this plan.

And today had been such a strange day for her. It wasn’t even a complete day, just a few hours since Hop’s arrival! She’d felt so many different emotions within the span of a few hours, it was exhausting. Part of her wanted to rip the bandage off and get it over with — either Hop will accept or will reject her, and then it’s all over with. 

_So… tonight?_ She asked herself. She could tell him in the bunk room, where they would at least be alone, but that felt… weird. She could run right into the Dojo, and pull Hop off of the bed, and lead him somewhere, no questions asked. Or… she could convince him there was something cool and fascinating to see somewhere romantic like Leon suggested. But where? 

As Gloria ran through the list of nice spots on the island that she liked, and the places she took Kubfu, a knot began twisting away inside of her chest. The feeling almost made her want to jump around and scream and run. But it wasn’t nerves or anxiety this time… No. She was actually excited. 

Maybe she actually wanted to tell Hop. And she wanted to tell him soon. 

Or maybe, she just wanted to get this over with, before her courage withered away again.

Either reason was good enough motivation for her. 

Hop probably hadn’t been on the island long before Gloria returned to the Dojo that afternoon, which meant he hadn’t had the time to go anywhere on the island without her. That meant that anywhere would still be cool and new to him. So, sure, taking him to the Potbottom Desert might not set the right mood, but anywhere else could work. The Lagoon was also out of the running because it would be crawling with Sandygast at this time of night, and the caves probably weren’t a great idea either — she wouldn’t want to work up to some special, important moment between her and Hop, only to be interrupted by the echoing screams of a Loudred. 

Gloria sighed and let her head loll back, resting against the trunk of the tree. She looked up to the sky and ran through the list of her favorite places on the island one more time. 

If the Desert, Lagoon, and Caves were out, the Forest was the last place she wanted ago, so that left — 

_Perfect_. 

***

Gloria burst through the door into her room—the room she would now be sharing with Hop.

“PokeSwitch down, shoes on.” She said, crossing her arms and standing tall. 

Hop startled, and pulled himself forward to the edge of his bunk. He’d been lazing on his side in some strange position, his one knee nearly touching his chin and the other bent and splayed out at an angle. The Switch laid abandoned at his side, the bright screen still on. 

“What?”

“I said, _Switch_ down, _shoes_ on.” She leaned against the door jamb and gave Hop the most severe expression she could manage — she wasn’t sure how effective it was, since she was certain she was failing to keep a smile off of her face. 

But Hop obeyed, pulling his boots on and grabbing his jacket, his own face clearly showing how puzzled and surprised he was by Gloria’s demands. Gloria gave up on trying to look like a tyrant, then and there.

“Come on,” she said, stepping forward, a smile stretched broad across her face as she took Hop by the hand and pulled him from the room, down the hall, and towards the main door. 

“Uh, where are we going?” He asked, taking long, unsteady steps to keep up with her skipping pace. 

“A place.”

“Why?”

“For reasons.”

“And what are we going to do at this place?” 

“A thing.” 

Gloria pushed open the front doors, pulling Hop through as they walked into the wall of dark and humid night air. She only slowed a little bit as they walked into the darkness, down the steady slope in front of the Dojo, and up the hill again to the Wetlands. When they reached the part of the ground where the swampy ground leveled out, Hop cleared his throat. 

“Uh, Glor?” He asked. And even as Gloria kept moving forward, she imagined the familiar, anxious curiosity that she had seen on his face before. “Are you going to let go of my hand?” 

“No,” she says, taking two more steps forward and grabbing his hand a little tighter. “Not unless you let go first.” 

_See? She’s not meant to be a coward. This felt better avoiding the issue any more._

“Okay,” Hop mumbled behind her, just as she started to pull them towards the entrance to Brawler’s Cave. His voice was soft and low, and just a little confused. 

But he didn’t let go. 

Gloria was more than glad that Hop was walking behind her, because, even if he tried, he couldn’t see the vibrant blush growing across her cheeks. She hoped he wasn’t just holding on to her hand because he was afraid of losing her in the dark. 

_She’ll find out soon, won’t she?_

Having traveled the path many times before, Gloria’s RotomPhone knew to slip out of her pocket and turn on its flashlight function as soon as Gloria pulled Hop under the shelter of the cave’s roof. She pulls him forward, through the shallowest part of the stream, and up the slope, guided by a narrow beam of light. She thinks she hears a Druddigon stomping around somewhere nearby, but she just kept walking. Maybe it was a bad idea to put Dubwool and Urshifu in their balls to rest for the night, but if the Druddigon wanted to fight, then it would have to catch up to them first. 

Thankfully, they make it out of the cave without needing to send any of their tired Pokémon from their balls into battle. Once they’re out of the cave, standing under the shadow of the Tower of Darkness on Challenge Road, the RotomPhone stays hovering a few feet in front of them, because the sky had gotten darker during their brief time in the cave. All signs of inky blue had disappeared from the sky above them, leaving a perfect field of black disrupted by tiny stars and a thin crescent moon hovering just over the sea. 

Gloria slowed their pace as she pulled Hop through the tall grass, along the edge of one of the cliffs that jut out above the ocean. She picked the one that hung further out above the water than the others — even though she was pretty sure that all of the students had left the Tower of Darkness for the food and comfort of the Dojo, she’d rather not be interrupted by anyone who decided to put in some extra hours of training that evening. 

She finally stops when they’re clear of the tall grass, and have come to a patch of stone where the surface has been worn smooth and even, just a few feet away from the pile of stones that covered an inactive Dynamax Pokémon den. 

And then Gloria looked up, to make sure she hadn’t made a colossal misjudgment in the weather. 

Even in Postwick, or in the Wild Area, there was enough light pollution to block some of the stars from view. But out here, on an island far off the coast of Galar, with just a handful of buildings scattered across the island, there were more stars visible than Gloria had ever seen, and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, more and more appeared with each fraction of a second she looked. 

_Perfect._

Then, with her best, winning smile, she looked at Hop, who was standing beside her, his shoulders tense, and she finally dropped her hold on his hand. 

“Come on, future Professor. Tell me about the stars.”

Most of the confusion faded from his face as Gloria took a seat on the smooth stone, and patted the open space beside her. Hop quickly took his place beside her but hesitated to join her once Gloria leaned back to lay across the rock. Maybe he was suspicious about her intent, or suspicious about the comfort that the worn rock might provide because he cast a quick look in Gloria’s direction that she didn’t quite understand. Whatever made him hesitate clearly wasn’t that concerning, because he shrugged off his coat, rolled it up, and put it on the ground behind him as his pillow. A second later, he was laying beside Gloria, his hands laced together and resting between his head and his make-shift pillow. 

“Wow,” he muttered, his golden eyes darting from one side of the sky to the other, amazed with the innumerable stars and the perfectly clear sky above them. 

Gloria had never been so pleased with herself. Things couldn’t be more perfect. 

One by one, he pointed out the constellations and planets in the endless sky above them. He told a few of the old Galarian myths about a few constellations they saw, like the story of the Wailmer and the King, or the story of the first Drampa in Galar. Gloria half-remembered some of the stories from years ago when they learned them in school, but she was more than happy to listen to Hop’s earnest voice tell them again as the two of them sat alone in the dark. 

It was peaceful, and it was perfect. 

This was the sort of thing the two of them had done forever. Sitting here, letting Hop indulge in the love of astronomy he’d carried longer than they’d known each other, it made it very clear to Gloria that she had no desire of giving it up anytime soon. Despite the distance, with him in Wedgehurst and Postwick, and her mostly in Wyndon, she didn’t want this to end. 

“Hop?” 

She pushed herself up from the smooth stone with one hand, and spun around, her hip pressed against Hop’s while she looked down onto him. 

“Hmm?” Gloria could see just enough to know his eyes had opened wide. He didn’t look scared or nervous or shocked. No, not that she would ever tell him, but there was something in his expression that reminded her of a Wooloo. Wide-eyed, and… waiting. 

“I’m glad you came to the Isle. I don’t think that we’ve gone more than a month without seeing each other since mum and I moved to Postwick. It’s just been holidays that we’ve been apart, nothing like this.” 

“I’ve missed you.”

_Oh. Good._

He just gave her the perfect transition in the conversation. Now she didn’t have to awkwardly blurt out the way she felt about him. 

_But she still had to say something…_

Her mouth immediately went dry, and her tongue felt too big and too clumsy and her mouth wouldn’t open. But Hop wasn’t saying anything else. 

With a slow breath, Gloria ignored the steady pounding of her heart in her chest and forced herself to whisper, “I missed you too.”

But that wasn’t all she had to say to him. 

“And I think…” She said, forcing her voice to be just a little louder, but not so loud that she would ruin the quiet of the night surrounding them. “I think that not seeing each other for so long made me realize how much I missed you. And it made me realize that I didn’t just miss you because you’re my best friend.” Her heart was beating faster than ever, and she felt dizzy, like she was spinning in little circles even though she was certain she hadn’t moved. “And I think…” 

Leon had said that Hop wasn’t nearly as terrifying as Eternatus, but she’d faced down the millennia-old dragon from space with her eyes wide open, and here she was, closing her eyes and bracing herself for the worst. 

“I think,” Gloria said, “that I missed you even more because you’re something other than my best friend. And I think we should go out on a date together, maybe once we get back to the mainland, to see… if that makes us happier than we are as friends.” 

_Those were the best possible words she could come up with. Hopefully, they were the right words._

And Gloria forced her eyes open, waiting for Hop to say or do anything to let her know he felt. 

Oh. A moment ago, when she felt dizzy, it wasn’t because she was moving — Hop was the one who had moved. He had sat up, his legs still splayed in front of him, but his face was now much closer to hers. She could see what little light there was around them reflected in his golden eyes, and she could see the outline of his jaw and his nose in the darkness. 

He was very close, and her heart was beating faster from that one little change. Her pulse raced faster and faster with each second she waited for his answer. 

“Can I kiss you? Seems easier than saying yes.” 

Feeling like a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders, Gloria smiled and laughed once, already leaning forward just the slightest. _She’d done it._

“You just said yes, you Slowpoke.”

They leaned in and met somewhere in the middle to kiss. It’s simple and sweet, and gentle. The kiss is so perfect and soft, it’s in complete contrast to the tight, desperate grip of Hop’s hand on her shoulder. 

It was over much too soon from Gloria’s perspective, but as Hop pulled away, she heard a faint gasp of air before he tried to speak. 

“I meant, _say yes_ , and tell you why — tell you that I — explain why — tell you that—”

Hop screwed his eyes shut and scratched at the back of his head with one hand. His words halted while his mouth hung open. It was like he’d been hit with a Hypnosis attack. 

_It was then that Gloria finally felt confident thinking that Hop returned her feelings._

“You know, you can just kiss me again if you don’t know how to finish that thought.” 

“I didn’t know how to start that thought,” he mumbled, opening his eyes and looking at her through his lashes before he finally leaned in, chasing after her lips. That second kiss was much more along the lines of what Gloria had been imagining all afternoon, slow and gentle and romantic. She wrapped one arm around his neck and brought the other up to rest right at the point where his neck met his collarbone. Without her realizing he had ever moved, Hop, as he pressed closer to her, pushed a lock of hair behind her ear with the gentlest brush of his fingers, which he then dragged down along the line of her jaw. 

She shivered, and Hop broke off the kiss, looking far too pleased with himself. 

“So we’re doing this?” He asked, grin wide across his face. 

“Seems like it.” 

“Should we talk about it?”

“Well, what do you want to talk about?” There were many things they _could_ have talked about. 

“It won’t be easy, you know, with us living at opposite ends of the region.” Hop shrugged, even with Gloria’s hands still on his shoulders. He seemed disappointed in himself for bringing up the subject, but he was right. 

“It’s a good thing I’m the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, then, isn’t it? Something being hard doesn’t mean is not worth trying. And Leon’s determined to make the League give me more time off than he ever had — my sponsorship contracts are more strict than his were, with Rose out of the way. Other than my few weeks of dedicated training time, during the off-season I should be able to make it home most weekends. And you’re always welcome to visit me in Wyndon, especially once the exhibition matches and Gym Challenge pick up again— I’ve got to take advantage of all of the free rail passes and taxi rides I get, you know? And you’ve already traveled all over the region for the Gym Challenge, your mom shouldn’t worry about you taking a train to Wyndon on your own now. You’re right, it won’t be easy. But we’ll take advantage of what opportunities we have, right?”

“Spoken like a true master strategist.” He said with a smile. “I’ll talk to Sonia about my schedule for the weekends. Whenever we’re both back in the lab, I mean. I think she’ll be willing to compromise and give me some time off to see you on the weekends if I agree to work more during the week. She’s been teasing me about my feelings for you for ages.” 

Before Gloria could agree, or share any of her own traumatic matchmaking experiences, Hop dragged his hand forward and began brushing his thumb along the soft skin of her cheek. The mesmerizing featherlight touches short-circuited her brain. Without realizing it, she leaned into his touch. 

Thankfully, Hop was not so distracted and could carry on a conversation. 

“I’ve been meaning to tell you — actually, I was waiting to tell you in person. But I’m working on my application to study at the university in Hammerlock. If I get in, I won’t be starting until next term, and that’s more than a year away. I’ll still be working with Sonia part-time, and I’ll be really busy, but Hammerlock is a lot closer to Wyndon than Postwick is.”

“I’m certain you’ll get in,” she said, automatically. And then the idea started to settle into her mind — Hammerlock was less than an hour away from Wyndon by train, whereas the trip to Postwick took several hours. And either one of them could get some of their work on the train… They could see each so often, if it worked out. “I think that’ll be brilliant.” 

“Me too,” he whispered. 

“And we can always call each other. Even if it’s only for five or ten minutes. That’s still time to catch up, talk about our days...” 

“Yeah.” He agreed, nodding along absentmindedly. Then he let out a deep breath. “Do you think it will be strange, adjusting to this? We’ve been best friends for years, and I’ve been ignoring my feelings for you for so long.” 

_Oh, fuck_ _it._ _She really was the last one to know, wasn’t she?_

That, she felt, was a discussion for another day. That moment, with the two of them situated in their own perfect little bubble of happiness, was not the right moment for Gloria to admit she’d never realized she had feelings for Hop until that afternoon, when it all hit her at once, like a falling Snorlax. 

“Maybe.” She said, wondering when it would be the right time to admit that she had been an emotionally oblivious idiot. 

_Let’s wait at least a month._

But Hop raised a good point. And if the increasing tension Gloria could see growing in his posture, climbing up his back and spreading to his shoulders, was any clue, it was something he worried about. Lucky enough for him, Gloria had been spending her whole afternoon, voluntarily or not, imaging every little moment of what romance between them would be like. 

“I don’t think a lot has to change, does it?” She said gently, reaching over and gently taking hold of one of his hands. “I don’t want or expect you to be some over-dramatic soap opera boyfriend, and I don’t think you want that from me, either, right? I don’t expect you to shower me in flowers and jewelry or take me to expensive restaurants on every date. Only if you really want to, you know? 

“And I still want to play games with you and make myself sick to my stomach with sweets during our movie marathons. I still want to take long walks around Postwick with you when I’m home for the weekend, and listen to you ramble on about your work with Sonia, no matter how much of it I actually understand. And I’m still going to kick your arse every time we battle.” 

“Don’t get too confident there, Champ.” 

Gloria winked even though she had no idea whether Hop could see much of her face or not. But that seemed better than dignifying his teasing with a reply. 

“I just want to say that I would be perfectly happy if we kept acting like the best friends we’ve been for years, just with a little more time alone together, so that we can do things like this. Alone and quiet, and... you know. Together. And I really don’t object to the kissing, which I think you’ve figured out on your own.” 

All at once, Hop relaxed. Good. They were on the same page. 

“Best friends with kissing.” 

“And more than kissing,” she added, slowly, testing the waters. 

If they were being honest, she thought she should go ahead and put it on the table. 

If the way Hop’s face and entire body locked up all at once was any indication, he wasn’t expecting her to be quite so honest. 

“More than?” 

“Eventually. If you’re… interested.” 

“More than. I mean, yeah. Eventually.” Hop keeps his words short. He sounds dazed, and a little breathless. _It’s nice to know she has the power to make him feel that way._ “Maybe give me some time to get used to the fact this is all real before you go and jump my bones, alright?” 

A smile broke across Gloria’s face, and she laughed harder than she has in quite a while.

She’s missed him. 

“Of course,” she said, the laughter bleeding into her voice as she quickly brushed a tear away from the corner of her eye. “I think I need time to realize that too.” 

She looked up at Hop, and even in the darkness, she could see Hop looking back at her, staring intently. Part of her wanted to know what it is he’s trying to figure out, but she really doesn’t mind his scrutiny. She’s gotten used to people staring at her in the past few weeks, but when it came to Hop, she had never minded. 

In the darkness, she can see a shift in the shadows as Hop opened his mouth to say something once, twice, and then waited another moment in the darkness before he finally sighed and spoke. 

“I’m probably the luckiest person in all of Galar, aren’t I?” 

_Is this what she had to look forward to?_ They’d never have the chance to confess their feelings for each other for the first time again, but was she going to spend the next year, five years, ten years, forever, listening to Hop say exactly the right words to leave her breathless and speechless? 

He was going to kill her. Could a heart break from happiness? 

“Is that another title you’re trying to steal off of me?” She asked, whispering to hide the raspiness that the lump forming in her throat would have caused. 

“Come off it. You’re not the one who had your best friend, one of the most famous and desirable people in Galar, the Champion, plan the most romantic first date in history just so she could confess her undying romantic feelings for you.”

Oh. So that’s how it was going to be. One second, saying the sweetest things a girl would ever hear, and then next, teasing her. 

_Why was she surprised?_

“I didn’t plan this. And this is not our first date! It’s not even a date.” To prove just how serious she was about that, Gloria punctuated her words with two sharp stabs of her fingers to the ticklish spots on either side of Hop’s stomach, just below his ribs. 

“What do you mean this isn’t a date?” He asked, trying feebly to push her hands away as he laughed quiet, choked off laughs, and squirmed beside her. 

“I mean, that I did this to ask you on a date, but _this_ isn’t actually a date.” 

“How does this not count as a date?” Hop asked. He managed to grab onto both Gloria’s hands and held them tightly between his own to protect himself from a continued attack. 

Fighting off a blush — _it seemed so silly to be blushing because he was holding her hands when they’d already kissed and said they liked each other, didn’t it?_ — Gloria cleared her throat and rolled her eyes to try and look serious. 

“It’s not a date unless you know it’s a date.” She insisted. “Neither one of us knew exactly how this night would go when I dragged you out of the Dojo, so it’s not a date.” 

“A date is two people who like each other, spending time together, doing something they enjoy. This is a date, Glor.” 

“I will not agree with you, no matter what you say.” 

And it was true. Yes, this little idea of hers was delightful, and it fit Hop’s definition well enough. But she hadn’t intended on this being a date. This little outing was a scheme to give her a chance to ask Hop on a day. As far as she was concerned, she would never consider this a date.

Hop laughed again and shook his head. He pulled one hand away from where he grasped Gloria's together and gently wrapped it around of the back of her neck. He pulled Gloria in for another gentle kiss, one that was soon over. But even as Hop pulled away, he didn’t go far. 

“Look, whatever you want to call this, you’re the one who found the courage to bring this up, and ask. I was too afraid to do something wrong or say the wrong thing, even though I’ve had no end of people telling me I needed to fess up and tell you how I felt. So let me plan the next one, okay? That seems fair to me.” 

“Okay.” She agreed. But only because he was so cute. 

Bringing his hand up from her neck, Hop delicately pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear, and let his hand linger once it was back in place. Once, twice, three times, Hop ran his fingers through her hair, and Gloria couldn’t keep her eyes open. With each touch, she felt a small spark of electricity travel from the back of her neck, down her spine, leaving goosebumps on her arms as the feeling passed. 

Even with her eyes closed, she felt the heat of Hop’s body as he leaned in, and she tilted her head just in time for him to kiss her, once more. It was deep and slow, and each second their lips touched, each time his fingers pushed across her jaw, Gloria leaned in further and further, just to get closer to him.

Just as it was before, it was Hop who pulled away, that dazed, dopey attempt at his familiar smile gracing his lips. Even though Gloria was a little upset with him for ending the kiss in the first place, she couldn’t be upset when he looked so happy. 

Then the smile faded, and he sat up straight. It was obvious, even in the darkness, a thought had occurred to him. 

“Glor, what do you mean when you said you didn’t know how this night would go?” He asked. 

Well, she could tell him about all of the ways she feared he would reject her, or all of the reasons why he might have, or all of the ways she feared she would make a fool out of herself so badly she would ruin everything. 

So, voice uncharacteristically quiet, she decided just to tell him, “I wasn’t certain how you would react.”

“You thought I would reject you?”

“I—I wasn’t certain how you felt, even though I was hopeful.”

“Even if I didn’t have feelings for you already, I’d be mental not to give it a chance with you. You’re my best friend, and you’re one of the funniest, most clever, and most brave people I know. And after you brought me out here to see the stars... You’re the best, Glor.” 

Again, that stupid blush showed up on her face. Gloria could feel it and knew that, with Hop's hand still carding through her hair, so close to her cheek, he could feel it too. So she looked down at the hands that remained clasped together, and then she remembered something that felt like she’d overheard days ago, even though it had only been a few hours. 

With her one hand, Gloria turned over Hop’s hand, the one that was entwined with hers. With the tip of one finger, she started tracing along the back of Hop's hand, up and down from one finger to another, drawing little shapes on the backside of his palm. He shivered. 

Biting down a mischievous smile, she looked back up at him. 

“Am I your favorite?” She asked. 

“... What?”

“I overheard you talking to the Petilil today. You told it that I was your favorite.” 

“You overheard that?”

“Mmhmm.”

“You heard me rambling about how great I think you are to a baby Pokémon and you still weren’t sure how I felt about you?” 

_Unbelievable_. 

“Only one of us found the nerve to tell the other one of us how we felt, and it wasn’t you, so I don’t appreciate the way you’re speaking to me.” 

Gloria dropped her hold on Hop’s hands, and immediately, her hands returned to his sides, ready to resume tickling. He pulled back and held his hands up in surrender. 

“Alright, alright. No more teasing about our shared insecurity. For tonight, anyway. Truce?”

 _Fine_. 

“Truce.” 

There was another pause, and Gloria felt like she was at a loss for words. She’d said the important things she needed to say, but she wasn’t ready to leave that quiet, peaceful spot on the cliffside just yet. She thought about kissing him again — _because she could do that_ — but it was Hop who ended the silence. 

“Come here,” he whispered, holding out his arm just wide enough that she could curl up underneath. 

_Cuddling_. Another thing they could do. 

She pushed herself across the stone ground to sit next to him, pressed side to side. As he wrapped his arm around her, he gently pulled her back, to lay across the stone ground once more. Hop was lucky enough to have his jacket to use as a pillow, but she wasn’t so lucky. Thankfully, she had a whole Hop to use as a pillow, so with a little more twisting and squirming on the warm, smooth stone, she rested her head against Hop’s chest, and laid one hand on his sternum. Hop never moved his arm from where it was wrapped around her shoulders.

She could get used to this. 

Once she settled in, she felt Hop press a kiss right to the crown of her head. As if by some secret reflex she never knew she had, she turned her head and pressed a quick kiss to Hop’s chest without thinking about it. She heard Hop laugh, once, a laugh that was nearly a scoff. Since she’d found the perfect comfortable spot, she wasn’t interested in moving her head to try and read his face in the dark and make sure it was the happy kind of laugh. She liked to think it was the laugh of someone who knew just how lucky they were. 

_Hop was pretty damn lucky. Then again, so was she._

Gloria felt her eyelids growing heavier and heavier the longer she felt Hop’s warmth and heard his heart beating inside of his chest. She fought to keep her eyes open wide enough to admire the bright stars above her, and to take the time and appreciate how well this all turned out, but as she felt more and more relaxed, and as more and more of the adrenaline she felt burned away, it was getting harder and harder. She fidgeted a little on the ground, and pulled herself closer to Hop, trying to get even more comfortable. Taking a deep breath, she pressed her face a little closer to Hop’s chest, and — 

_That smell._ There it was again. Warm, a little spicy. Was it cardamom? Cinnamon? She hadn’t the foggiest. 

“Hop?”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve been trying to figure something out all day. Are you wearing cologne or something?” 

Hop stopped breathing for a moment or two, and Gloria could feel the muscles of his arm tense and move as he clenched his fist, and then relaxed. 

“Uh, yeah.” He said, clearly feeling a little bashful to admit it. 

“Since when?”

“Oh, uh, a little over a week ago? Lee invited mum and I up to Wyndon for the day to see the Battle Tower, and you know mum, she can’t visit Wyndon without finding the time to go shopping. Lee and I went with her because we were going to get dinner right after she finished, but she was taking forever to pick out some new curtains for the kitchen. I was just wandering around and found a display of cologne and I started testing all of them, just because I was bored. Lee found me, and convinced me to buy my favorite. He said — well, it doesn’t matter what he said. He just thought it was a good idea.” 

By the time Hop’s story was done, he was speaking slowly, like he was making sure every word he said was the right word before he said it out loud. 

Hop obviously didn’t want to disclose what Leon had said to him, but Gloria could take a guess at what that conversation was like. Apparently, running the Battle Tower and teaching her how to be Champion wasn’t enough work to keep Leon busy, and he decided he needed to play at being a matchmaker as well. 

She started to wonder what she should get Leon as a thank-you gift… 

But Leon was still miles away, and Hop was right there beside her, feeling, she was sure, a little self-conscious. 

“I like it.” She whispered, shifting her hand across his stomach to his waist to feel like she was holding him even closer. 

A beat later, she heard Hop whisper, “oh. Good.” And she couldn’t help but smile. 

Gloria was pretty certain that she didn’t fall asleep, but she wasn’t about to bet her life on it. Her head fit perfectly against Hop’s chest, the arm around her was so comforting, and the rock below them was still warm from the heat of the day’s sun. Even the occasional rustling in the tall grass was not enough to make her feel anything less than perfectly peaceful, so she might have drifted off. 

And then Hop — perfect, wonderful Hop — ruined it. 

“Hey,” he whispered. “Remember how we planned on turning in early tonight so that we could be up bright and early tomorrow to go look for the honey?”

There was a steady beat of silence, and then — 

Gloria sat up, Hop’s arm falling away from her shoulders. 

“I cannot believe you. How dare you ruin everything by being practical?” Gloria said, speaking through gritted teeth. She spoke at a normal volume, but in the relative quiet of the night, it seemed like she was shouting. Another moment later, Hop’s generous, full-body laughter joined Gloria in shattering the delicate silence that had settled around them like a heavy fog. 

“I’m so sorry,” he said, laughing even as Gloria took aim and attacked his most ticklish spots once again. 

He would apologize a dozen more times as together, they slowly walked back to the Dojo. At certain points on the walk, they held hands. At other times, they walked arm in arm. Still, at other times, they didn’t walk at all and stopped to share a kiss.

They made it back to the Dojo, and were far from surprised to discover all of the lights had been turned off, and everyone else had turned in for the night. They creep silently through the hallways and made it back to the bunkroom together without disturbing anyone else. 

There’s just a quick moment of hesitancy, once they’ve slipped off their shoes and jacket, where they decide, silently, that it would still be best to sleep in separate beds. But of course, they share one more kiss before turning and walking to opposite sides of the room. 

As Gloria settled onto her bed, still wearing the dress she’d been in all day, she grabbed her RotomPhone from her pocket in order to set an alarm for a way-too-early hour of the morning. As she flipped from one screen to another, she was a little surprised to see a notification she hadn’t been expecting. 

It was a message from Leon, sent half of an hour or so ago. All he had typed was a long, long line of question marks. 

It was too late for a proper response, so Gloria searched through her phone to find one of her more frequently-used gifs, one of an animated Scorbunny jumping up and down, holding a red heart in its little paws. He’d get the idea. 

Gloria promptly passed out. 

*** 

A scant few hours later, Gloria was woken by the annoying buzzing of her RotomPhone’s alarm. With bleary eyes and clumsy hands, she hit the icon on the screen to snooze the alarm for another ten minutes — she’d set the alarm at that time just so she could indulge in the joy of hitting the snooze button without it making her late. 

She turned her head on the pillow and spared a quick glance at Hop from the corner of her eye. Not that there was much to see other than his ruffled hair, as he had the blankets pulled up to his ear. Of course, the alarm hadn’t woken him — he could sleep through a Copperajah stampede. 

With a silly smile on her face, Gloria nuzzled back into her pillow. Before she could close her eyes, her RotomPhone perked right up again, its screen alight with another notification. 

No, strike that — notifications. A message from Leon, another from Sonia, one from Marnie, a second and third from Leon, one from Bede of all people, yet another from Hop’s mother, and one from her own mother. 

_Why were all of these people awake and sending messages at 6 o’clock in the morning?_

Her phone went ahead and opened the message from her mother first, as it had been trained to do. 

It read: _So I hear there’s something you need to tell me?_ followed by a dozen alternating Roselia and Luvdisc Pokemojis. 

_Ugh.  
_

She was definitely not giving Leon any kind of thank you gift, the snitch. 

... Maybe she could convince Hop to fake their deaths together and to run away to Unova with her? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This fic brought to you by the fact I think two of the most attractive qualities in a person I that they 1. Smell good, and 2. Are honest about their feelings without making a production out of it.)
> 
> Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone who's commented/left Kudos/bookmarked this fic. You never know what to expect when you post for a new fandom, but I appreciated all of your kind words and feedback!


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